Disintegrable gold tees are known in the art. Indeed, it is well known to manufacture tees comprises of sand and a binding agent which holds the material together so that it can be shaped and maintained in the desired structure.
It is also known to incorporate grass seed and fertilizer into said tees for the purpose of providing the soil with the nutrients and means needed to invigorate the teeing grounds.
Unfortunately, however, the binding agents which are generally used in gold tee compositions are viscous and sticky substances. And although such agents can be dehydrated to provide a dry tee, nevertheless, upon coming into contact with moisture, the said agents are rehydrated and resume their sticky state. As a consequence, they create an unsatisfactory condition because the rehydrated binder will sometimes adhere to the ball or club and otherwise render the course unsuitable for play.
Furthermore, there are no tees available which, in addition to decomposing into the soil, also combat fungi, weeds, larvae and soil dwelling insects.
In U.S. Pat. No. 1,152,649 there is described a water soluble tee which is typical of the known disintegrable tees. That patent relates to a colorless, transparent, water soluble gold tee which utilizes common gelatin as the binding agent. Similar tees utilizing gelatinous and nitrogenous binding agents are also disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 1,645,001 and in U.S. Pat. No. 1,176,039.
The disadvantage to tees comprised of gelatin and nitrogenous binders lies in their tendency to soften and become tacky in damp or humid weather. And in actual play, as indicated above, there is a tendency for the gelatinous material to adhere to the club head or to the ball and, to a certain extent, to the playing surface.
An alternative tee is described in U.S. Pat. No. 702,078. That patent describes the use of flour and molasses as a binder for clay and sand in preparing a disintegrable tee. However, again, in hot or wet weather the said tee has a tendency to soften and, therefore, it exhibits the same undesirable properties as the gelatinous or nitrogenous tees.
A variation on the disintegrable tee is described by W. McLeod in U.S. Pat. No. 1,815,520. McLeod, however, eschews the use of fertilizer as a component in tee comcompositions. Indeed, this patent indicates that it is unsatisfactory to incorporate any ingredients into the tee other than clay and water. Furthermore, the McLeod patent is directed to tees of a frustoconical shape and, therefore, it bears no resemblance to the peg tee which is in vogue today.
One difficulty in producing a disintegrable tee lies in the fact that a balance must be struck between ostensibly competing needs. Thus, for example, the composition of said tee must be of such density as to lend itself to molding procedures while, at the same time, it must possess a capacity for absorbing water so that it can be decomposed by natural means. Celluloid, rubber and plastics have been used for this purpose but the results have been disappointing because, while they provide excellent structural properties, they are not affected appreciably by moisture and, therefore, they do not decompose readily over the short-term.
One disadvantage to disintegrable tees containing fertilizers has been the uneven supply of nutrients which they provide to the playing area. Indeed, golf tees comprised of fertilizers generally release their nutrients quickly and in localized spots and thus fail to provide the slow release and even distribution which is needed for proper feeding. The result is an over-greening effect, in small areas, and this produces a patchwork-type effect on the teeing surface.